Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is a 2D Metroidvania platformer for the PlayStation released in 1997. Following the events of Rondo of Blood, Richter took down Dracula and restored peace to the world . . . or so he thought. Richter mysteriously vanished four years later, and Dracula's Castle appeared once more. Dracula's son Alucard awoke from a 300-year slumber, and now he has to explore the castle and help Maria Renard find Richter. The game was only modestly popular in terms of sales back in 1997, but it hindsight, it is seen as one of the best 2D platform games ever made, with incredible graphics, beautiful music, and lots of replay value. Say it with me: "What is a man?! A miserable little pile of secrets!" Originally PlayStation exclusive, a Japan-only Saturn port was released with the ability to play as Maria Renard. However, the producer, Koji Igarashi, finds this port inferior because the content was not up to par with the rest of the game, in addition to technical problems faced with that port. It was also included with the PSP game Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles, with redubbed voice acting and a different variation of Maria playable. The original PS1 version was also ported to Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network; the former also appears in the compilation Konami Classics: Vol. 1, alongside Frogger and Super Contra. Completion Requirements * Vanquish Dracula. * Explore every single room in both the regular and inverted castle. * Collect all one-time items (the ones that don't respawn). * By the time you unlock everything in both castles, your progress should be 200.6%. Glitches in the original PlayStation can bring the percentage to 240%, but this is not necessary for completion. * Beat the game as Richter. * If you are playing the Sega Saturn or Dracula X Chronicles version, beat the game as Maria. Missables One bestiary entry requires you to kill a Mudman summoned from the Lesser Demon boss. If you defeat the Lesser Demon without hitting a Mudman, you cannot find another one. If you have the Holy Glasses in the fight with Richter, saving him without hitting him once will deny you his entry in the bestiary (you save him by destroying the orb floating above the stage). To avoid this, hit him once, then focus solely on the orb. Luckily, Richter has much more HP than the orb, so you won't risk killing Richter and earning the bad ending. Completion Tips You may need to explore the castle multiple times in order to find everything that can be found. Take notes and memorize the location of any locked doors, high places, or gates that mist can pass through. When playing as Richter, the best tip for survival is to pick up Holy Water, keep a healthy supply of hearts, and use the Hydro Storm whenever you are in trouble. If you reach the inverted castle, but you forgot something in the Normal castle, you can return there by going back to the area next to the throne room (where you teleported in from), or you can use a Library Card/Magic Ticket to warp to the Librarian. Once you get the bat form, fly up to any corners that are unreachable by jumping. Even though you won't always find an item, simply visiting a section of the map counts as a room, and works towards your overall percentage.Category:PlayStation Category:Sega Saturn Category:Xbox LIVE Arcade Category:PlayStation Portable Category:PlayStation Network Category:Games Category:Castlevania